Kaseem
Masculine · “one who divides or distributes”
Arabic has a naming device English lacks entirely: a man is called the father of his eldest son. The Prophet Muhammad's eldest son was Qasim, and so his own honorific is Abu al-Qasim, father of Qasim, which is why this name carries far more weight in Islamic naming than its rarity suggests.
How old is the name Kaseem?
Kaseem first appears in US birth records in 1957 — 68 years ago. The typical Kaseem alive today was born around 1999, making them about 26 years old. About 900 people named Kaseem are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kaseem most popular?
Kaseem peaked in 1978, reaching #2279 nationally. Today it ranks #6446, 4,167 places below that high. See the whole 1978 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From qasim to Kaseem
The story of Kaseem
The kunya, the by-name formed with abu, father of, or umm, mother of, is a full part of the Arabic naming system and often the form a person is actually addressed by. Qasim, the Prophet's first son, died in infancy, and the kunya Abu al-Qasim remained his father's for life; naming a son Qasim therefore carries an association that no translation conveys. The name is used across the Arabic-speaking world and in South Asia, and reached United States records with Arab and African American Muslim naming in the twentieth century. The Kaseem spelling drops the Arabic q, a consonant made far back in the throat that English has no letter for, and its best American year is 1978.
Meaning
one who divides or distributes
Arabic qasim, from the root q-s-m, to divide, apportion or allot. The sense in a name is a distributor or apportioner, someone who shares out fairly, rather than one who separates. The same root gives qismah, a portion or lot, which English borrowed through Turkish as kismet.
How the name formed
- qasim
- Qasim
- Kaseem
Related forms: Qasim · Kasim · Qasim · Kasim
Pronouncing Kaseem
kah-SEEM
Two syllables with the stress at the end. The Arabic initial is a q made at the back of the throat, distinct from k; this spelling substitutes the k an English speaker would say anyway.
Nicknames for Kaseem
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1957
- Most boys named
- 200029 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2279reached in 1978
- Change vs 2024
- +8.3%13 in 2025, from 12
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Kaseem in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Qasim in Arabic — transliteration
- Kasim in Turkish — same name
- Qasim in Urdu — same name
- Kasim in Bosnian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Pennsylvania, New York.
Kaseems among us
people named Kaseem are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 131,390 born in 2025 was named Kaseem
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kaseem
- #6446
- Kaseem on the 2025 chart
- #901
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kaseem went to 13 boys in 2025, but Kazeem and Kasem are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 27, which makes it the 901st most-given boys’ name of the year — 5,545 places above the chart.
- Kaseem13
- Kazeem9
- Kasem5
About 1 boy in 63,262 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 131,390 for Kaseem itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Morrie test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kaseem's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Morrie climbed just as high around 1962, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Morrie's path sketches the road Kaseem is walking now.
Kaseem sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Kaseem beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kaseem in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled Arabic meaning with a clear and positive sense.
- The spelling tells an English reader how to say it, which Qasim does not.
- Carries a significant association in Islamic tradition without being a sacred name.
- Qasim and Kasim are both standard elsewhere and will be written instead.
- The initial q of the Arabic is lost in this spelling, which Arabic speakers will notice.
- It sits close to Kareem and Nasim and gets confused with both.
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Kaseem
Masculine · #6446 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kaseems are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Kaseem are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kaseem?
- Kaseem is the most-used spelling in US records — 13 of the 27 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Kazeem and Kasem.
- How popular is the name Kaseem in 2025?
- Kaseem ranks #6446 among US boy names in 2025, with 13 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kaseem?
- About 1 in every 131,390 US boys born in 2025 was named Kaseem — 13 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kaseem with classmates?
- Kaseem will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kaseem
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rollie#6446 · Billie#6446 · Worth#6446 · Blas#6446 · Starling#6446 · Alvis#6446 · Elwyn#6446 · Rollin#6446
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kaseem? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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